Welcome to fakeBay: How eBay's 'designer' bargains are just too good to be true

By LAURA MOSS

From cars to CDs, houses to handbags, these days you can buy almost anything on the online marketplace eBay - and millions of us do.

But as well as being a fantastic place to pick up a bargain, or sell your old books or furniture, the website has also become a magnet for criminals, counterfeiters and fraudsters.

Two weeks ago, the luxury jeweller Tiffany & Co announced it is suing eBay after finding that almost three-quarters of items claiming to be originally from its stores are, in fact, fakes. So, we decided to conduct our own investigation, setting ourselves up as a buyer and purchasing a variety of designer items from eBay.

Of the 34 items we bought, from upmarket labels such as Tiffany, Louis Vuitton and Chanel, it emerged that 33 were fake and only one was real.

Some were good copies, and only experts from the various design houses were able to tell us they were not real.

Others were so shoddy it was obvious they were not actually luxury items.

Among the rip-offs we bought were a £200 "Cartier" watch (the real thing retails at a whopping £2,000); a set of fake silver cufflinks described as being from Tiffany & Co, which we bought for just under £50 (the real things cost £125); and a fake Louis Vuitton Danier canvas wallet (normal price £260) was bought for a mere £69.98.

Of course, for every fake available there is a gullible, willing buyer, thinking they are picking up a bargain when, in fact, they are being totally conned.

In fact, eBay says it is doing all it can to fight the counterfeiters and urges victims to report suspected phoney goods through the "report this item" button found at the bottom of every item listing.

A spokesperson said: "Counterfeits are a global issue and not just an internet challenge.

"We work with rights owners and proactively remove counterfeits from the site when we find them.

"Ebay removes thousands of items from the site every week, although in the vast majority of cases this can only be done with help of [copy]rights owners, as only they have the expertise to identify relevant counterfeited items."

Ruth Orchard, director-general of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, which represents 200 organisations and is trying to stop the counterfeiting of branded products, says: "Counterfeiting has risen by more than 10,000 per cent in the past two decades globally, while in the UK the market is worth at least £14 billion a year.

"We strongly advise people not to buy any luxury goods on eBay."

Ruth adds: "Apart from losing hard-earned money buying worthless items, there are serious safety issues with fake products for sale such as perfume and other healthcare goods.

"Also, the people selling these products are criminals - and you are handing over your personal details, like your address, to them. How safe is that?"

Markets, car boot sales and certain foreign holiday destinations are notorious for providing cheap replicas of luxury brands - which often fall apart before they've even got home - but now cyberspace is providing an increasingly lucrative place for fraudsters selling high-end phoney goods.

Its most famous auction website, eBay, is a prime target for such conmen.

A quick glance online shows tens of thousands of items claiming to be "genuine designer" items of clothing, jewellery, watches and handbags.

It's almost impossible to tell whether something is real or fake.

Normally if you were trying to decide if something was real, you could pick it up and really examine it to make sure.

But on eBay, buyers are entirely reliant on photographs, which are often of poor quality and can even be of the real item, whereas what is sent to you will be a fake.

We soon discovered that if the picture is genuine, there are some giveaways to look out for - particularly if you are able to compare it to its real counterparts on the brand's official website.

This was obvious, for example, with classic designs such as the "Please Return to Tiffany & Co's New York 295" key fob, because some of those we saw on eBay had lettering which was inconsistent with the original.

On the whole, counterfeits are shoddily made.

Wallets and bags tend to be sewn unevenly, so it's worth studying the stitching, lining, fastenings and logos on goods either on the screen or when they arrive, if you do buy one.

One "Louis Vuitton" wallet had poor stitching, which gave it away, and the brand's authentification stamp was on a different side of the wallet than the original - another common mistake by counterfeiters.

There are myriad tricks eBay sellers use to try to fool unsuspecting buyers.

One tactic is to photograph an item with the brand's logo on display in the background.

We bought a Gucci necklace and earrings separately but from the same seller, who posted photographs of the pieces perched on a plump chestnut cushion surrounded by a Gucci-labelled carrier bag and a delicately placed Gucci ribbon.

All this paraphernalia created an illusion of authenticity about the products, but crucially there were no close-up photographs of the jewellery and no hallmark detail could be garnered from the distant shot on screen.

Within seconds of being handed the goods after they arrived in the post, a Gucci store sales assistant confirmed they were all fake.

We discovered it is also relatively common to come across an item on eBay that carries a brand's name but is not a copy of a known design.

We bought a fake Chanel necklace which was pictured on a shiny black box with the brand's trademark overlapping Cs.

In reality, the necklace was of shockingly poor quality - the gold had rubbed away on the chain, leaving an unsightly green tinge, and the words "Chanel, 31 Rue Cambon, Paris" were printed, rather than engraved on the charm.

Chanel later confirmed that neither the design nor anything similar existed. The same occurred with a Versace "Signature" shoulder bag, bought from a seller who insisted that her products were genuine.

An expert informed us that Versace has never produced such a bag and that the "Signature" line was completely fictitious.

Another tell-tale sign can be if someone is selling multiple numbers of the same item cheaply.

One eBayer called Susan270157 was selling Prada socks in bulk, with six pairs in a pack, for £18.97.

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We bought some and took them to an expert at Prada who described them as "completely counterfeit".

Once again, the socks were not of a known design and the fashion label had not produced anything similar.

When we confronted the seller by e-mail, they offered us a refund on return of the goods, but claimed that the socks were "overstock" that she had bought from an unnamed store in Manchester.

She has since stopped selling the socks on eBay and told us that she is looking into the matter.

The way most eBay buyers decide whether a seller is trustworthy or not is by the "feedback" system.

Every time an item is purchased online, the buyer can leave a message marking the experience as "positive", "neutral" or "negative".

It is recorded and can be seen by all potential buyers the next time the seller uses the website.

But it is by no means foolproof.

If someone gets too many negative comments, they can simply set up another account under a different name and begin again.

Feedback can be written by friends and there is even special software available that bumps up the number of positive responses someone has.

This might explain the frequent appearance of "Perfect" on the feedback section of those suspected of selling fake goods.

Still, it's worth reading feedback, because some sellers are openly accused of peddling fakes on it.

One user, Robsbear4me, had been accused three times in the past three months.

He offered a full refund upon return of the cufflinks we bought and even admitted that they were counterfeit.

He told us: "Everything that you buy on eBay is fake. Even Victoria Beckham wears fakes."

One eBayer, with the moniker "great-goodiez", seemed genuinely shocked to discover that the Versace belt he sold us was counterfeit, and immediately issued a full refund.

He even told us to keep the belt as a token of his apology.

But only one other eBayer refunded us when we told them the goods were fake; four out of the 22 refused to repay us and one seller did not respond. The rest promised a refund upon return of the goods.

The majority of sellers claimed that they had bought the items in question from other eBayers, either as a one-off or as a job lot.

"Seanworldofgarms" politely offered us a refund, but became secretive when asked where he obtained the Louis Vuitton wallet.

He said: "I'm not discussing who I buy things from. There is already too much competition."

"Ru-lai99" claimed that the Alexander McQueen scarves she sold came from the Alexander McQueen factory, but had been rejected due to imperfections.

"Holly_valentine" would not disclose where she bought the phoney Versace bag she sold us, and flatly refused to issue a refund. She maintains that the product is real, despite confirmation from Versace that it is not, and is still selling a number of them on eBay.

But in most cases, sellers did not dispute our claim to being sold a counterfeit, although most were vague when asked for details of where the item came from.

Despite eBay insisting it is doing all it can, there is still a strong sense that it is not doing enough to protect its users.

Tiffany is suing the company through the U.S. courts to try to stem the tide of counterfeiters.

The jeweller said: "We look forward to the trial, and to presenting our case for consideration by the court.

"We hope to stop counterfeit Tiffany products from being offered for sale on eBay.

"Meanwhile, customers should be wary of buying silver jewellery marked Tiffany from anyone but Tiffany. Such goods are highly likely to be counterfeit."

Fakes expert Ruth Orchard points out that while each transaction may seem relatively minor, when thousands are put together they constitute a booming and damaging industry.

"Apart from the very important point about harm to the consumer, it is also crucial to understand the impact on the national economy because fakers don't pay any taxes or VAT.

"People should also be aware that, at present, there is no straightforward way to hold eBay liable for fakes sold in auctions on its site."

Clothes manufacturer Juicy Couture says it has also approached eBay about the problem in the past - to no avail - but it has yet to take legal action.

A spokesperson added: "The price is normally an indication of whether or not the garments are legitimate.

"If something appears on a website with a much lower recommended retail price than our retailers, that's normally a sign that it's fake."

Of course, there is only one way to make sure something you buy is genuine - buy it from the company's store itself.

After all, in the world of eBay bargains, if something seems too good to be true, that's because it probably is.